


Who Would Cry Out

by QuickSilverFox3



Series: Whumptober 2020 [11]
Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Character Death, Established Relationship, Flirting, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Injury, M/M, Missing Scene, Post-Canon, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-16
Updated: 2020-10-16
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:48:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27048976
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QuickSilverFox3/pseuds/QuickSilverFox3
Summary: “And you are going to help me.”Booker’s hands shook almost constantly now, but Quynh’s were steady as she sipped on her drink, smile painted red as blood.[No 11. PSYCH 101 Defiance | Struggling | Crying]
Relationships: Andy | Andromache of Scythia & Lykon, Booker | Sebastien le Livre & Quynh | Noriko, Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova, Nile Freeman & Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani & Nicky | Nicolo di Genova, Nile Freeman & Nicky | Nicolo di Genova
Series: Whumptober 2020 [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1947016
Comments: 4
Kudos: 27
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	Who Would Cry Out

“And you are going to help me.”

Booker’s hands shook almost constantly now, but Quynh’s were steady as she sipped on her drink, smile painted red as blood.

“You want me to help you get revenge on Andy?”

“They abandoned you. They  _ left _ you to rot when all you tried to do was help them.” She tapped the side of her temple. “I’ve seen it, remember?”

Booker stared into her eyes, and saw the madness there, the drive to do anything to lessen the sting of guilt even if it meant burning everything else to the ground.

“I won’t help.”

* * *

“Why can’t you just understand?”

The tone in the doctor’s voice was one they knew well, so full of confidence that they were doing the right thing with the fury of a zealot. Joe shifted as much as he could in his bonds, and met Nicky’s gaze, soft and sweet and full of love.

“You don’t understand,” Joe told her, his first words in a language could speak before slipping back into crooning compliments at Nicky to watch his cheeks and chest turn pink.

“Stubborn man,” Nicky replied, dimples denting his cheeks as he smiled, “I love you so much.”

* * *

“Step aside.”

“No.”

Yusuf’s voice was steady, one hand reached back to stop Nicolo from diving forwards at the group of men surrounding them. He could feel the other man’s heartbeat strong like a drum in his wrist, and relished in the ability to hold his hand, even if it was only for a moment.

“He stole. He is going to die.”

Yusuf raised his own sword, seeing his opponent’s eyes track the movement, seeing his skill in the way the blade spun. “I’m the only one who gets to kill him.”

Nicolo laughed, the sound beautiful in it’s rarity.

* * *

They had barely been left along in the lab for a moment before Nicky broke his fingers to pull against the cuffs keeping them bound. 

“Nicolo,” Yusuf called softly, “Are you well?”

Nicky couldn’t answer for a moment, the love he felt for Joe cutting off any reply he could give. “I will be better when I see you free again.”

The leather rattled as he worked, flashes of pain sparking through his limbs, but he pushed through it, teeth gritted.

When the guards returned, and beat him bloody, it was Yusuf’s voice that pierced through the fog, promising retribution.

* * *

Booker spat out something onto the damp ground, breathing in the scent of the earth after a rainstorm, feeling the dull ache of a tooth growing back in. He carried the memory of fresh bruises, but everything was dulled by the alcohol still sitting heavy in his stomach.

He shifted, and became slowly, uncomfortably aware of the water pressing against his skin. If he didn’t move, he was going to drown, drunk in a river.

With weighted limbs, he tried to move, a hopeless struggle with an uncooperative body, eventually just lying still and letting the water wash over him.

* * *

Quynh watched the sunlight filter down through the water, fighting the urge to breathe in the saltwater around her, the same urge she had fought for years. The ‘face’ of the coffin had rusted and broken during her long confinement and her eyes burned as she watched fish swim past.

Freedom was so close, and the feeling kept her going through the long nights of darkness and unseen twisting shadows whose ripples she could only feel like knives on her bare skin.

She began to lightly press against the broken edge, her efforts broken by her death again and again.

* * *

“Nicky.”

Nile gently rested a hand on his shoulder but he flinched away from her touch.

“Yusuf? Joe?” he murmured into Joe’s skin, kissing the soft skin at the edge of his eyes which crinkled up when he smiled, the curve of his cheek. The man he held in his arms didn’t move, his blood slowly congealing on Nicky’s hands.

“He’s gone,” Nile whispered.

“He promised,” Nicky snapped at her, a sorrow he hoped he would never have to encounter threatening to choke him. Tears blurred his vision and he screamed out his grief, holding Joe’s body tight to him.

* * *

“Tears?” Lykon’s voice broke part way through the word, but his hand was steady as he pressed it to Andy’s cheek. He swiped a calloused thumb through the trail of tears cascading down her face as she pressed her hands to the steadily bleeding wound in his stomach.

“Don’t die,” Andy hissed, pressing harder as if her touch could turn back the blade that sliced through fat and muscle.

Lykon laughed, the blood bubbling in his throat distorting the sound. “I won’t because you ask me to.” 

Andy bit back a broken sob when his hand fell away from her.

* * *

There was no privacy in the many safehouses they bounced to, despite the gaping hole left by Booker. Nile watched Joe stiffen when football came on the TV, frantically flicking away from the channel. 

She wanted to help, but her own sorrow threatened to consume her. She slipped out onto the terrace, night air biting at the bare skin of her legs, a hoodie ‘stolen’ from Nicky keeping her warm. 

Nile stared out over the empty rooftops and finally let herself grieve, tears slipping down her cheeks as she pulled her phone from her pocket, staring at her family’s faces.

* * *

“This one?” Nile rifled through the stack of photographs Copley had complied like cards, plucking one at random to brandish it.

“That was torture,” Joe groaned, kissing Nicky’s temple as the other man laughed, taking hold of the photo to stare at it in wonder. 

“You looked beautiful in those glasses,” Nicky said, his grin slow and full of heat. “An undercover mission,” he clarified to Nile, “and Joe had to be a professor for three months.”

“You enjoyed teasing me too much,” Joe accused, Nicky tipping his head back to accept the kiss.

“I did. It was very fun.”

**Author's Note:**

> [ My Tumblr!](https://inkformyblood.tumblr.com) Requests are always welcome!


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